"The number has come down drastically. Now only one or two are coming," quoting DGP Lethika Saran, PTI reported.

According to latest statistics with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) there is also an increase in the number Sri Lankan refugees returning home from camps in Tamil Nadu.

From Jan 1 - September 30, 2010, the UNHCR said 1,280 refugees returned voluntarily from India to Sri Lanka , compared to 843 in all of 2009.

These returns took place voluntarily from India with UNHCR help - what UNHCR calls 'facilitated returns'.

Also this year, over 1,000 refugees approached UNHCR offices in Sri Lanka to report that they had returned on their own accord, said UNHCR.

Till July 2010, there were 71,654 Lankan refugees in India living in 112 camps and 32,467 living outside, the Indian government statistics said.

"Others will want to come home. No one wants to be a refugee and usually there is a strong desire of refugees to return home when they feel it is safe," UNHCR Deputy Representative in Sri Lanka Jennifer Fagonis said recently.

She said according to UNHCR's most recent statistics for end-June 2010, - gathered from governments and also from UNHCR - a total of 146,098 Sri Lankan refugees are in 64 countries.